Dropper and standard.



A. WESTMORELAND.

DROPPER AND STANDARD. APPLIOATION FILED APR.10, 1909.

Patented Mari 1,1911.

asid s. 5

UNITED STATES PnrENT OFFICE.

' ,HENRY ARTHUR WESTMORELAND, OF EARLSFIELD, LONDCN, ENGLAND.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

To all whom it may notice, a:

Beitknown that I, H NRY ARTHUR Wns'raroRnLnNn, a citizen of Great Britain, and resident of 1 Court Terrace, Burntwood LanefiEarlsfield, London, S. W., in the county of Ldndon, England, manufacturer, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Droppers and Standards, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in droppers and standards used for supporting and spacing the wires of fences, and in the manufacture of the same, and has for its object to provide a dropper or standard which may be commercially produced having ready means for the securing of the wires thereto and presenting other advantages of strength and convenience of manufacturc.

The invention consists in the provision of a dropper of U or V or other suitable section with a regular series of depressions in the edges formed by lipping over portions of the edges or crushing or forcing in the said portions to form bearings or resting places for the fence wires. The lipping over or forcing in of the portions of the edges is prefer ably produced by a system of rolling and the droppers so formed can be very cheaply and rapidly produced.

The appended drawings show examples of portions of droppers to illustrate the invention.

Figure 1. is a front elevation of a part of a dropper. Fig. 2. is a side view of the same. Fi 3. is a section on line ma;, Fig. l. Fi 4-. is a section on line g -g Fig. 1. Fig. 5. is a. front; view of a portion of a dropper of modified n'lalnlfacturc. Fig. 6. is a side view of same. Fig. 7. is a section on line 1 of Fig. 5. Fig. 8. is a section on line Z-Z of Fig, l.

In these drawings I have shown a portion only of a dropper in each case for convenience of illustration as this allows the features of the invention bcing nore cl-early illustrated; as regards its general characteristics, such as means for driving into the ground etc.,-these may be of any ordinary or special form without affecting my invcution.

The dropper A represented at Figs. 1 to 4 is of U section slightly opened at the edges, forming akamveuient section for rolling, which is the preferred method of manufacture. The edges a of the dropper are opernaorrnn AND STANDARD.

to take securing wedges.

Patented M31221, 1911.- Application filed April 1o,' 1909. Serial no. 489,058.

ated on in a roll machine or otherwise and}, portlons at regular lnterva-ls and in both e'dges are forced outwardly as at a leaving depressions as shown. This forcing out or lipping over'of portions of the edges of the dropper forms a most elfective method of providing extensive bearings or resting places for the wires of a fence, and by reason of the series of arches thus formed on the edges, the dropper is materially strengthened andxaltogether is greatly in advance, for strength and for convenience, of the methods in general use, which consist of piercing holes in the dropper or slotting it By this method of forming my depressions for the reception of the fence wires a considerable surface of metal is presented on each edge of the dropper for the reception of the fence wire and a very effective grip of the Wire is obtained. The dropper is also by this method considerably strengthened by the retention of the whole of its metal in this way and a more rigid dropper is the result.

In the example shown at Figs. 5 to S, the edges b of the dropper B are crushed or forced in at intervals forming depressions with thickened edges b which act in exactly the same way as the lipping over of the metal previously described, that is to provide effective resting places for the fence wires.

In either of these cases and in any other case coming within the scope of my invcntion, the fence wires may be tied to the dropper-s by wire loops. The invention is readily applicable to fence standards as well as droppers and these must be considered as coming within the invention.

What I claim then is:

1.. A metal fence picket or dropper comprising an elongated body of substantially U-shapcd cross section, marginal edge portions of said body rcarwardly atspaced intervals to dispose their outer edges practically at right angles to the unbent edge portions and to form the inner face portions of the U-shaped body into outwardly facing concave wire seats intervening the unbent edges, said outwardly bent portions being sufficiently displaced laterally with respect to the unbent edges as to form such wire seats of a length gieatly exceeding the thickness of the material of which the body is formed.

being bent outwardly 2. A metal fence picket or dropper comprising an elongated body of substantially U-shapedf cross section, uniform as regards the thickness of the material throughout its cross section and throughout its wire engaging length, 'both marginal edge portions of said body being bent outwardly and rear- Wardly at regularly spaced intervalsto dispose their outer edges practically at right i angles to the nnbent edges and to form the inner face portions of the-U-shaped body into outwardly facing concave .wire seats, the unbent vand outwardly bent portions forming continuously scalloped edges ex- 1 tending throughout the XVIIB engaging,

length of said body, said outwardly bent portions being snflieiently displaced laterally with respect to the unbent edges as to form {wire engaging seats of a length greatly exceeding the thickness of the material of i which said body is formed, and said nnbent edge portions lying substantially in the planes of the outwardly extending U-shaped parts of said body. Signed at London in the conntyof'London and State of England this 30th day of M i-ch A. D; 1909. I l HENRY ARTHUR WESTMORELAND. itn'essesz F.,C. LAMrnnnL, D. M. BUTCHER. 

